Ghosts of Parihaka

They say the past is another country. Some people can go there.

It’s not been an easy time for Matiu Douglas, magical adept. One of his friends is now a ghost, his enemies have stolen the Treaty of Waitangi, he can’t date the girl he likes and keeps getting unwanted marriage proposals from a centuries old tohunga’s daughter.

But when his best friend Riki is snatched into the ghost-world of Aotearoa during a school visit, Mat has to put all his worries aside and act fast. For Riki vanished at Parihaka, scene of one of the darkest acts from New Zealand’s colonial past, and in Aotearoa such places are deadly dangerous.

Award-winning author David Hair takes you back to Aotearoa, where people from our past rub shoulders with beings of myth and legend, and you never know who or what lies in wait.

Reviews for Ghosts of Parihaka

David Hair has cleverly mixed real historical battles and people with a modern story. There is tension, mystery and a fair dose of magical powers. If the teenage boy in your life is in need of a good book then starting with the first in this series, The Bone Tiki, is highly recommended. Hair knows how to write a very boy-friendly book with a real 'New Zealand' flavour.
D Scene, May 2013This journey takes Matiu Douglas from Parihaka to Arrowtown the Larnach Castle in a dramatic reconstruction of past events that still affect the present. Hair's characters come to life - sometimes gruesomely - his special effects are convincing and his resolutions moving.
Listener, June 2013

The author does a great job of exploring how two separate cultures can be combined into one national identity through shared history and knowledge.
Herald on Sunday, May 2013While the target audience for the Aotearoa series is young adult readers, the books will appeal to all ages: it's a simple but effective good-versus-bad story with enough complexity to be engrossing.
Southland Times, June 2013